ABSTRACT
Ethical and practice guidelines by national professional associations, governmental agencies, and private institutions suggest that cultural sensitivity and cultural humility are central to ethical social work practice. Unfortunately, these guidelines have not explicitly addressed language competence among bilingual social workers as an imperative to such cultural sensitivity or cultural humility. Furthermore, language competence among bilingual social workers has not been understood or explicitly described as an ethical obligation but rather as a matter of skills’ convenience. The current number of bilingual social workers in the United States cannot meet the demands of social service agencies, hospitals, or private sectors providing services to people who are monolingual or who have limited language skills. This chapter presents the ethics of bilingual social work practice in systems that do not support, respect, or empower these social workers and service seekers. A brief review of the literature will be presented to discuss oppressive factors experienced by bilingual social workers and identify standards of practices to empower bilingual social workers, people with Limited English Proficiency (LEP), and agencies. Contemporary ethical challenges intersecting all systems of social work practice will be discussed in relation to bidirectional and reciprocal responsibilities between bilingual social workers, people identified as LEP, agencies, professional associations, and private institutions. The chapter will conclude with recommendations to address structural challenges, minimize ethical dilemmas, and empower professionals, people with LEP, and agencies to clarify roles and responsibilities across micro, mezzo, and macro systems.
